Grilled Miso Garlic Chicken (燒烤蒜蓉味噌雞, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Mei6 Cang1 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 12 Aug 2015. The Chinese name was changed to use the correct characters for “miso” rather than “miso paste”.

This recipe is a variation of the Grilled Miso Garlic T-Bone Steak dish. While the marinade for the beef was more of a paste, the chicken is marinated in a miso-garlic soy sauce solution. Unlike chicken breasts, thighs need to be cleaned first to remove the excess fat. Of course, chicken breasts may be used in place of thighs. The thighs are first smoked (pecan wood is a good choice) skin side up on the side of the grill without the coals and then moved skin side down over the coals to produce grill marks.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

5 lb.	2.5 kg.	Chicken thighs (鷄髀, gai1 bei2)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
½ cup	125 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Miso paste (麵豉醬, min6 si6 zoeng3)
½ cup	125 ml.	Sake (清酒, ceng1 zau2)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

Equipment

22.5 in.	57 cm.	Covered charcoal or gas grill (or larger)

Instructions

1. Clean the chicken thighs by removing any excess fat. Marinate the chicken thighs for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, soy sauce, miso paste, sake, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the chicken overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Prepare the charcoal or gas grill for indirect cooking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Light the charcoal or preheat the gas grill accordingly. Soak the wood for smoking (pecan goes well with this dish) for one hour if desired. I use dry and not soaked wood.
3. If using a charcoal grill, arrange the lighted coals on one half of the grill. The side of the grill with the coals (the “hot” side) will later be used to grill the chicken and the side without the coals (the “cool” side) will be used for smoking the chicken. For a gas grill, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for indirect cooking. Clean the grill to remove any leftover charred bits from the last use and with a folded paper towel coated in oil, use tongs to oil the grill. Put the smoking wood onto the coals or as per the instructions for the gas grill.
4. Place the chicken, skin side up, on the cool side of the grill and cook for 15-20 minutes covered. Move the chicken, skin side down, to the hot side of the grill when smoking is complete to add grill marks (optional; about 5-7 minutes depending upon the temperature of the coals) uncovered. Remove the chicken from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. The temperature of your fire and previous experience with your grill will determine the total cooking time for the chicken.